"P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, politician, and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017). He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, though he said of himself: ""I am a showman by profession… and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me"". According to his critics, his personal aim was ""to put money in his own coffers."" He is widely credited with coining the adage ""There's a sucker born every minute"", although no evidence can be found of"
"his circus. The residents put a stop to his plans, and he eventually sold his land. Barnum Avenue now runs though the area that was once his land, and one of the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry boats is named the ""P. T. Barnum"". A house he had constructed also still exists but is privately owned. During this period, lower Port Jefferson's main section of commerce was located on what is now East Main Street. Most of the current Main Street, located on what was initially a swamp, did not become as commercially viable until the 20th century. The section"
"and Barnum & Bailey Circus. P. T. Barnum, who as a boy had worked as a ticket seller for Hachaliah Bailey's show, had run the Barnum's American Museum from New York City since 1841 from the former Scudder's American Museum building. Besides building up the existing exhibits, Barnum brought in animals to add zoo-like elements, and a freak show. During this time, Barnum took the Museum on road tours, named ""P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling American Museum"". The Museum burned down in July 1865. Though Barnum attempted to re-establish the Museum at another location in the city, it too burned down"
"who grew up in Bridgeport, named the ""Pogo"" character P.T. Bridgeport after Barnum, and endowed the circus operator bear with a Barnum-like outsized personality and word balloons with lettering that resembled 19th century circus posters giving graphic depiction of the sort of colorful language Barnum was prone to use. An annual six-week Barnum Festival was held for many years in Bridgeport, Connecticut, as a tribute to Barnum. To honor the 200th anniversary of Barnum's birth, the Bethel Historical Society commissioned a life-size sculpture, created by local resident David Gesualdi, that stands outside the public library. The statue was dedicated on"
"about her ""thrilling adventures"" behind Confederate lines. Barnum's Unionist sympathies incited a Confederate arsonist to start a fire in 1864. On July 13, 1865, Barnum's American Museum burned to the ground from a fire of unknown origin. Barnum re-established the Museum at another location in New York City, but this too was destroyed by fire in March 1868. This time the loss was too great, and Barnum retired from the museum business. Barnum did not enter the circus business until he was 60 years old. In Delavan, Wisconsin in 1870 with William Cameron Coup, he established ""P. T. Barnum's Grand"
"an attempt to discredit him. However, Barnum never denied making the quote. It is said that he thanked Forepaugh for the free publicity he had given him. Adam Forepaugh Adam John Forepaugh (February 28, 1831 - January 22, 1890) was an American entrepreneur, businessman, and circus owner. Forepaugh owned and operated a circus from 1865 through 1890 under various names including Forepaugh's Circus, The Great Forepaugh Show, The Adam Forepaugh Circus, and Forepaugh & The Wild West. Forepaugh was born into poverty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to John A. Forepaugh, a butcher, and Susannah Heimer. He began working in a butcher"
"It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab, or a Hottentot—it is still an immortal spirit"". He was elected in 1875 as Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he worked to improve the water supply, bring gas lighting to streets, and enforce liquor and prostitution laws. He was also instrumental in starting Bridgeport Hospital, founded in 1878, and was its first president. Nevertheless, the circus business was the source of much of his enduring fame. He established ""P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome"", a traveling circus, menagerie, and museum of ""freaks"" which adopted"
"wider popularity to the circus in the United States. In 1825, Joshuah Purdy Brown was the first circus owner to use a large canvas tent for the circus performance. Circus pioneer Dan Rice was the most famous pre-Civil War circus clown, popularizing such expressions as ""The One-Horse Show"" and ""Hey, Rube!"". The American circus was revolutionized by P. T. Barnum and William Cameron Coup, who launched the travelling P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie & Circus, the first freak show. Coup also introduced the first multiple ringed circuses, and was also the first circus entrepreneur to use circus trains to transport"
"William C. Coup William Cameron Coup (August 4, 1836 – March 4, 1895) was a Wisconsin businessman who partnered with P. T. Barnum and Dan Castello in 1870 to form the ""P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie and Circus"". Previously Barnum had a museum at a fixed location in New York City and the traveling circus allowed him to bring his curiosities to more paying customers. Coup's innovations were the circus train to transport the materials from town to town. He also came up with the concept of adding a second ring in 1872 and a third ring to the circus"
"Ivandell Cemetery. Several of the next generation of Baileys performed in circuses. Hachaliah Bailey served as a role model to a young P.T. Barnum, who wrote of meeting him when Hachaliah visited Barnum's store in Bethel, Connecticut. In 1888, Barnum lent his name to a partnership with James Anthony Bailey, who had adopted the surname of Frederick Bailey, a nephew of Hachaliah's, to form the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Hachaliah Bailey Hachaliah Bailey (pronounced ""heck-a-LIE-uh""; July 31, 1775 – September 2, 1845) was the founder of one of America's earliest circuses. In 1808, he purchased an Indian elephant which he"
"lost most of his equipment in a train wreck near Cairo, Illinois in 1887. He developed a train-based traveling museum called Enchanted Rolling Palaces in 1891. He died in Jacksonville, Florida on March 4, 1895. William C. Coup William Cameron Coup (August 4, 1836 – March 4, 1895) was a Wisconsin businessman who partnered with P. T. Barnum and Dan Castello in 1870 to form the ""P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie and Circus"". Previously Barnum had a museum at a fixed location in New York City and the traveling circus allowed him to bring his curiosities to more paying customers."
"Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome"", a traveling circus, menagerie, and museum of ""freaks"". It went through various names: ""P.T. Barnum's Travelling World's Fair, Great Roman Hippodrome and Greatest Show On Earth"", and after an 1881 merger with James Bailey and James L. Hutchinson, ""P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show On Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United"", soon shortened to ""Barnum & Bailey's"". This entertainment phenomenon was the first circus to display three rings, which made it the largest circus the world had ever seen. The show's first primary attraction was"
"160 acres southwest of Denver, the first in a series of land deals in the development and promotion of Villa Park. Envisioned as a vast development with unique features such as curving streets, Witter’s dream of a home for Denver’s wealthy was never realized. The Denver Villa Park Association raised money for development, but lawsuits followed and the association was soon bankrupt. Lands were placed with a trustee, and on March 11, 1878, offered for sale. Less than two weeks later, on March 21, 1878, the American circus mogul P.T. Barnum of the Barnum and Bailey Circus bought 760 acre"
"the circus showman P.T. Barnum (1810–1891), who at age 71 eloquently described historical details of life around 1820 in the Danbury area of his childhood. Sarah Barnum Hubbell apparently died sometime between 1770 and 1780. Sometime after 1772, Parruck married Lydia Beardsley (c. 1740 – c. 1794), who became stepmother to all his children. (Parruck Hubbell and Lydia Beardsley had no known children.) She was the daughter of John Beardsley Jr. (1704–1772) and Martha Odell (1708–1797). Parruck and Lydia were second cousins; their great-grandfather was Samuel Beardsley (c. 1636 – 1706), son of William Beardsley (1605–1661) of Derbyshire, England who"
"in 1868, and Barnum opted to retire from the museum business. In 1871, Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup persuaded Barnum to come out of retirement as to lend his name, know-how and financial backing to the circus they had already created in Delavan, Wisconsin. The combined show was named ""P.T. Barnum's Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Hippodrome"". As described by Barnum, Castello and Coup ""had a show that was truly immense, and combined all the elements of museum, menagerie, variety performance, concert hall, and circus"", and considered it to potentially be ""the Greatest Show on Earth"", which subsequently"
"during which members of the Board of Trade were also introduced. Kalākaua accepted an invitation to appear on December 29 at P. T. Barnum Great Traveling World's Fair, Museum, Menagerie and Hippodrome. Barnum was the founder of Barnum & Bailey Circus, and had promoted the 1850–52 Jenny Lind tour of America. An advertisement for Kalākaua's appearance ran in the ""New-York Tribune"", and Barnum would later remember the event's attendance record as 20,000. Barnum provided the royal party with bannered box seats to view the performances. For the finale, Barnum and Kalākaua rode the perimeter of the arena in an open"
"Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 90th Academy Awards and for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. In the late 19th century, P. T. Barnum and his troupe perform a show at the circus (""The Greatest Show""). In a flashback to Barnum's childhood where he and his father Philo, a tailor, work for the Hallett family, he becomes infatuated with their daughter, Charity. Charity explains that her father is sending her to finishing school, and she does not know what her future will be, but Barnum"
"him and promote his visit. In the mid-1800s P. T. Barnum founded the American Museum and the Barnum and Bailey Circus. He became well known for publicizing his circus using manipulative techniques. For example, he announced that his museum would exhibit a 161-year-old woman, who had been Washington's nurse, then produced an elderly woman and a forged birth certificate. In the 1860s, the major railway companies building the Transcontinental Railroad (Central Pacific Railroad in Sacramento, California, and the Union Pacific Railroad in New York City) engaged in ""sophisticated and systematic corporate public relations"" in order to raise $125 million needed"
"major circuses of the Golden Age of the American traveling circus (ca. 1870-1940), including Barnum and Bailey, Ringling Brothers, Adam Forepaugh, John B. Doris, and the Sells Brothers. The posters are typically brightly colored and attention-grabbing. Most feature dramatic new acts or exotic animals; many make outrageous (and sometimes utterly false) claims – the largest, the smallest, the most dangerous, the rarest, the one and only, etc. The Museum owns three elaborate carved miniature circuses. The Circus Parade, which runs over five hundred feet through the circus building, was begun in 1925 by Roy Arnold (1892-1976) of Hardwick, Vermont. Built"
"Barnum and his world-famous circus. Barnum would exercise his animals through the streets of Bridgeport, and people gathered in Beardsley Park to see zebras and camels walking by. In 1920, Bridgeport Parks Commissioner, Wesley Hayes, began a campaign to create a city zoo within the park. He requested that the citizens of Bridgeport contribute animals to start the zoo. Within the first year, eighteen exotic birds were donated. By 1927, the zoo had acquired a variety of exotic animals, including a camel donated by the Barnum and Bailey Circus. In 1997, the Connecticut Zoological Society, a nonprofit support group for"
"became part of the circus's name. Independently of Castello and Coup, James Anthony Bailey had teamed up with James E. Cooper to create the Cooper and Bailey Circus in the 1860s. The Cooper and Bailey Circus became the chief competitor to Barnum's circus. As Bailey's circus was outperforming his, Barnum sought to merge the circuses. The two groups agreed to combine their shows on March 28, 1881. Initially named ""P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show On Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United"", it was eventually shortened to ""Barnum and Bailey's Circus""."
"would regularly seat himself at the main entrance into the circus, a vantage point that ensured that his face was seen by all and from which, it was rumored, he could estimate the night's receipts to hold his employees accountable. Through the 1870s and into the 1880s, Forepaugh and P. T. Barnum had the two largest circuses in the nation. Forepaugh actually had more animals than Barnum and generally paid higher salaries to the much-favored European talent. The two men constantly fought each other over rights to perform in the most-favored venues. They signed truces in 1882, 1884, and 1887,"
"ideas. He knew how to draw patrons in, by giving them a glimpse of something that had never been seen before. He was, at times, accused of being deceptive and promoting false advertising. Barnum was one of the very first circus owners to move his circus by train (and probably the very first to buy his own train). His friend, William C. Coup, helped him get railroad cars to make tour traveling easier. Given the lack of paved highways in America, this turned out to be a shrewd business move that vastly extended Barnum's geographical reach. In this new field,"
"role as a port in the 19th Century was to build and support vessels engaged in the coastal freighting trades. Many of Port Jefferson's remaining homes from this period were owned by shipbuilders and captains. This includes the Mather House Museum, a mid-19th century home once owned by the Mather shipbuilding family that now serves as the center of a museum complex and headquarters for ""The Historical Society of Greater Port Jefferson"". P. T. Barnum, the famous circus owner, owned a tract of land which ran through the village. His intention was to make Port Jefferson the home base for"
"The showman P.T. Barnum was a resident of the city and served as the town's mayor in the late 19th century. Barnum built four houses in Bridgeport, and housed his circus in town during winter. The first Subway restaurant opened in the North End section of the city in 1965. The Frisbie Pie Company was located here, and Bridgeport is credited as the birthplace of the Frisbee. After World War II, industrial restructuring and suburbanization caused the loss of many jobs and affluent residents, leaving Bridgeport struggling with problems of poverty and crime. In the 21st century, with the city"
"Barnum (musical) Barnum is an American musical with a book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman. It is based on the life of showman P. T. Barnum, covering the period from 1835 through 1880 in America and major cities of the world where Barnum took his performing companies. The production combines elements of traditional musical theater with the spectacle of the circus. The characters include jugglers, trapeze artists and clowns, as well as such real-life personalities as Jenny Lind and General Tom Thumb. The original Broadway production ran for 854 performances and was followed"
"Poono ..."" This was not the Pablo Fanque of British fame, but Fanque's nephew, William ""Billy"" Banham, who used his famous uncle's name as a pseudonym during his time in New Zealand and Australia in the 1850s and 1860s. Fanque's son, Ted Pablo, may have also fought under the name Pablo Fanque in his Australian boxing matches. Pablo Fanque Pablo Fanque (born William Darby 30 March 1810 in Norwich, England; died 4 May 1871 in Stockport, England) was an English equestrian performer and circus proprietor, the first recorded non-white British circus owner in Britain. His circus was popular in Victorian"
"Barnum's Kaleidoscape Barnum's Kaleidoscape was an American circus staged by Feld Entertainment, the owners of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, at a start-up cost of $10 million. It ran for one season, 1999–2000. Inspired by both European traditions and the contemporary circus movement, it was the first Ringling show to be held under a tent since 1956 and also its first one-ring presentation in more than a century. The tent was carpeted with wood flooring and amenities to create an intimate setting with seating for 1,800 on cushioned seats and sofas and no one further than 50 feet"
"Otto Ringling Otto Ringling (born William Henry Ringling) (1858 – April 2nd, 1911) was an American Circusman, businessman, and the third oldest of the Ringling brothers. He was the co-founder of the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows, which eventually became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was called the ""Lieutenant General"" of the Ringling family. Upon his death, the ""New York Times"" described him as ""a man of great ideas and ambition, and an executive of force and character."" He was nicknamed ""The King"" in the circus business. William Henry Ringling was born in 1858 in Baraboo,"
"Carl Hagenbeck Carl Hagenbeck (June 10, 1844 – April 14, 1913) was a German merchant of wild animals who supplied many European zoos, as well as P. T. Barnum. He created the modern zoo with animal enclosures without bars that were closer to their natural habitat. The transformation of the zoo architecture initiated by him is known as the Hagenbeck revolution. Hagenbeck founded Germany's most successful privately owned zoo, the Tierpark Hagenbeck, which moved to its present location in Hamburg's Stellingen district in 1907. He was a pioneer in displaying humans next to animals in human zoos. Hagenbeck was born"
"to Ronkonkoma. The earliest equivalent to the North Shore's present-day Port Jefferson Branch began operation in 1873. The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry has been operating between Port Jefferson and Bridgeport, Connecticut since 1888 and was partly founded by legendary circus-master P.T. Barnum. From the end of the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th, many communities along the North Shore and South Shore became successful resort towns. These hosted many urban residents from nearby New York City, including numerous celebrities of the era, during the summer months. Meanwhile, many rural sections across Brookhaven served as campgrounds for"
"John Ringling John Nicholas Ringling (May 31, 1866 – December 2, 1936) is the best known of the seven Ringling siblings, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Bros World's Greatest Shows to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the circus into what it is today. In addition to owning and managing many of the largest circuses in the United States, he was also a rancher, a real estate developer and art collector. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987. John was born in McGregor,"
"Castello formed a partnership that had a show travel by boat in 1869, visiting the ports of the Great Lakes. The show was a success. Dan Castello suggested he work with P. T. Barnum. In 1870, Castello, Coup and Barnum created ""P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Circus and Hippodrome"" in New York City. Coup started to use rail transportation for the circus in 1872, against Barnum's judgement. In 1874, Coup built the New York Hippodrome as a permanent amusement building. This fatigued him, and in 1875 he ended his partnership in the circus and move to Europe. In"